In a vehicle, there is a need to improve the attachment of electrical connectors through a sheet metal structure of the vehicle. Typically, a vehicle door panel is attached to the sheet metal structure of the vehicle by attachment hooks and/or fasteners mounted to the door panel. In many situations, the vehicle includes electrical switches featured on the show surface of the door panel, requiring a wire harness for the switch to be manually fed or threaded through an aperture of the sheet metal structure prior to attaching the door panel to the sheet metal structure. The wire harness connects to a receiving harness mounted to the switch of the door panel. Generally, the hooks mounted on the door panel are disposed through receiving slots of the sheet metal structure. Then, the door panel is pivoted toward the sheet metal structure such that the fasteners are inserted into receiving sockets of the sheet metal.
Although such assemblies are adequate for attaching door panels to sheet metal structures and connecting wire harnesses together, the assembly can be improved in order to lessen the manufacturing time of the door panels. Manually feeding the wire harness through the sheet metal may involve a significant amount of time and may involve more than one assembly technician. In many cases, as the attachment of the door panel to the sheet metal structure is a blind attachment, the connection of the wire harness to the receiving harness is typically accomplished with less ease.
Thus, what is needed is an improved connector assembly which connects electrical wires to electrical switches of vehicle panels, such as door panels.
What is also needed is an improved connector assembly which is self-aligning in order to accommodate blind attachments of door panels to sheet metal structures.